[ad_1]
Jussie Smollett, the actor sentenced to five months in prison for faking a hate crime in Chicago, will serve his time in protective custody, officials said.
Smollett, who ranted that he was not “suicidal” as he was hauled away after sentencing, will be housed in his own cell, and will be under video monitoring at all times, the Cooks County Sheriff’s Office told The Post.
Smollett also shouted his innocence on Thursday during his sentencing.
“I did not do this and I am not suicidal and if anything happens to me when I go there, I did not do it to myself and you must all know that,” he yelled.
The protective custody arrangement was requested by Smollett and his legal team, TMZ reported.
After the sentencing, his attorney later talked of the “Epstein situation” and said the actor feared the possibility that “he turns up dead in protective custody.”
“Mr. Smollett is being housed in his own cell, which is monitored by security cameras in the cell and by an officer wearing a body-worn camera who is stationed at the entrance of the cell to ensure that Mr. Smollett is under direct observation at all times,” the Cooks County Sheriff said in a statement.
Other detainees will not be in common areas when Smollett is out of his cell to use the telephone or watch TV.
“These protocols are routinely used for individuals ordered into protective custody who may potentially be at risk of harm due to the nature of their charges, their profession, or their noteworthy status,” the Sheriff’s office said.
Smollett was convicted in December of staging a hate crime when he asked two men to “fake beat him up,” tie a noose around his neck, douse him in bleach and shout racist and homophobic slurs at him,
Prosecutors said Smollett went so far as to stage the phony beating where he thought it might best be captured on surveillance cameras.
Smollett’s attorney has said the actor intends to appeal his conviction.
[ad_2]